Restructuring care: comparative policy developments

The developments of early childhood education and care (ECEC) policy trajectories are shaped by various cultural, social and political contexts. Australia, the UK and Canada's respective approaches to supporting different forms of ECEC, and children and families more generally, were established at different times, and shaped by different groups of policy and public stakeholders. The feminist movement played a pivotal role in advocating for women's right to work and the expansion of childcare in all three countries; however, the way these movements played out, the actors involved, and their various goals and achievements diverged in critical ways. For example, trade unions, femocrats, and lobby groups played a significant role in Australia (Brennan, 2002); trade unions and local employers influenced the trajectory of childcare in the UK (Randall 1995, 1996); and federal-provincial negotiations are identified as a key factor in progress and retreat of childcare in Canada (Mahon and Phillips, 2002). The directions and goals of movements were largely shaped by collective beliefs, political and advocacy mobilisation and negotiations about what is best for mothers and children (Michel and Mahon, 2002). The development of policies and programmes also reflects different regional and local norms. Despite the distinct histories and care trajectories, there are clear patterns of convergence in the use of market mechanisms to fund and deliver ECEC and other care services (Brennan et al, 2012; Mahon et al, 2012). However, the marketisation of care services can reflect distinct processes of care restructuring. In liberal countries, including Australia, the UK and Canada, marketisation has fostered a different form of privatisation of care arrangements, compared with Nordic and southern European countries – from the private family to private services and commercial providers. Private providers include large corporations as well as individuals working largely in the informal sector. Australia, the UK and Canada have never had universal childcare, and therefore the restructuring of services in these countries cannot be explained as a shift away from universalism as in many Nordic and European countries (Brennan et al, 2012). In liberal countries, restructuring involved shifting priorities (between women and children), the redesign of funding and regulation to include and exclude different forms of subsidised childcare, and the introduction of policies and programmes targeting different groups of children and families.

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